Players and teams that fooled us, Kings comeback, playoff anticipation
Every Wednesday, a trio of SI.com staffers will sit down for a discussion of the hockey world's hot button issues. This week, Sam Page, Sarah Kwak and Allan Muir talk about being April Fooled, the Kings’ playoff chances, Jack Adams Award favorites and Stanley Cup wishes.
First up:
• Happy April Fool's Day, panelists! Since I'm not allowed to prank you, let me instead pose this timely question: Who fooled you this season?
AL MUIR:Nathan MacKinnon. I followed his epic off-season workout regimen closely and from speaking to people involved along the way I was convinced that he was setting himself up for a sensational sophomore season. I remember doing a bunch of preseason fantasy hockey radio hits and every single time I said that he was a lock for 80 points. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. The kid struggled to score, his defensive game suffered, he was rotated throughout the lineup. And just when he finally started to show signs of life with his first career hat trick on Feb. 22 ... he breaks his foot and is finished for the season. This just wasn’t his year.
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SARAH KWAK: I feel like there was a lot of fooling this season, but I’ll go with the Sharks. Though, heck, they fool me every season because I always expect that team to be better than it is. I didn’t think San Jose would be a Cup contender, but I certainly thought the Sharks would be a playoff team. That run in December, when they won nine of 10 against a bunch of good teams, still makes me think they should be better than 11th in the West. Alas …
• The Kings put themselves in a tight spot with a pair of losses to the Wild and Blackhawks. Do the defending champs have one more surprising comeback left in them?
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before
KWAK: I think they do, though will it be enough? I’m not sure. The Kings have two games against the Oilers, who now find themselves in a precarious draft position outside the McDavid-Eichel Safe Zone, behind Buffalo and Arizona. But I think that L.A.’s fate will largely sit outside of its control. It’ll depend largely on Winnipeg and Calgary, which sit just ahead of them in the standings, like you said. And, well, I kind of hope the Jets make it.
PAGE: Winnipeg’s loss last night (and Dustin Byfuglien’s likely suspension) greatly helped L.A.’s chances. I say they’re going to make it.
• There’s a crowded field of worthy nominees for the Jack Adams Award. Make the case for your favorite.
PAGE: This award almost always goes to the coach of a team that bucks expectations, which makes picking a reigning Conference Champion hopeless. But the most impressive coaching performance for me has been Alain Vigneault’s. The Rangers didn’t lose a single superstar during the off-season, but several key contributors to their Cup finals run did leave—Anton Stralman, Brian Boyle, BenoitPouliot. Those departures, combined with a slow start and Henrik Lundqvist’s lengthy recovery from injury made for a lot of adversity to coach around in a possible Presidents’ Trophy-winning season.
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Dennis Wideman
KWAK: A coach often has a better chance of winning the Jack Adams in his first year on a job—Patrick Roy (Avalanche), Ken Hitchcock (Blues), Dave Tippett (Coyotes)—but Jon Cooper, in his second year at the helm of Tampa Bay, has kept the Lightning playing exciting hockey. He was a finalist last year, but he deserves it even more this time around. Despite playing without Martin St. Louis at all this season and relying on a defense corps that is just good (not great), Cooper managed to improve the team’s record.
• The Stanley Cup playoffs start two weeks from today. To what are you most looking forward?
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KWAK I’ll be excited to see playoff hockey come to Winnipeg, too. It would be just wild to see that fan base enjoy the postseason for the first time in 19 years. I guess we’ll just have to see if the Jets can close it out.
PAGE: The first-timers. It’s not a fashionable opinion in these days of small sample size disclaimers, but I genuinely believe that certain players are better in the big spots. I want to see what young guys with flair—Seth Jones, Jonathan Drouin, and Johnny Gaudreau—do when everyone’s playing a little faster.